Augustine was greatly appreciated by his respective community for his teachings on Christianity and the profile of the Christian identity. His resources were not limited to only the New Testament Scriptures but avail other writings to further fulfill such teachings. The Jewish Scripture, or the Old Testament, is not a separate entity of Christian law but a manifestation of Jesus in the New Testament. In sermon 8, "On the plagues of Egypt and the Ten Commandments of the Law", Augustine utilizes the physical torture of the Egyptians as a metaphor for the spiritual torment of Christians who fail to obey the laws of God. The sermon was well received by the Clergy or monks of Carthage at the Shrine of Saint Cyprus in 410; the translator attributed such date because of Augustine's brief mentioning of the Donatists, whom he ceased to discussed after 411. Because of Augustine's references to the Pentecost and the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Edmund Hill dates the preaching at toward the end of May or early June. However there is no explicit occasion mentioned for this particular sermon.
[...] According to Docetists, Christ was an amateur or fake human who did not consist of a bodily nature.[4] Augustine states, Christians, such as the Docetists, who speak heresy or false teachings of Christ resembles “frogs croaking in a muddy marsh”.[5]They babble and challenge the scriptures. Augustine continues with the third commandment which requests all believers to observe the Sabbath.[6] God rested on the 7th day to rest and reflect in his good works. Believers must abstain from any activities which hinders the sanctification of the heart by the Holy Spirit. [...]
[...] This sermon identifies my own failure to properly obey the commandments and laws of God. The rules and laws of God are decentralizing and devaluing in our daily lives. The greatest failure however is the lack of acknowledgement for the necessity of obeying the laws. Because of the grace of God in me[29], I am not alienated from God. But what happens when humans devalue this costly freely given grace through ignorance and disobedience of the law or God? The answer is the path to my own conviction. [...]
[...] The eight plague locust, “animals whose teeth do the damage.”[14] Speaking untruthfully is figuratively piercing and destroying neighbors and stability of society The final two commandments are interrelated and connected. shall not covet your neighbor's wife” correlates with the thick darkness over Egypt. Augustine relates such disrespect to the husband and wife to the shadowing of the mind and heart; this darkness impact right judgment and blindness to reality. The next law specifically restricts all from confiscating others' possessions.[16] Augustine relates this commandment to the killing of the first Egyptians' first sons. [...]
[...] However, the water became blood which symbolizes Christ's corporal or fleshly being.[24] Augustine states, anyone who does not adhere to the unity of Christ and barks against the unity cannot be understood to have the Holy Spirit”.[25] It is only through the right belief and faith individuals are able to successfully abide by the commandments and laws of God. Augustine's brilliance and gift to provide spiritual meanings to scriptures is illuminated throughout this text. Who could have thought the plagues on the Egyptians could be interpreted as spiritual defects of the consequence of breaking the Commandments? [...]
[...] His descriptive terminologies enlighten this distraught relationship between the disobedience of the commandments and the plagues. One of the many mesmerizing quotes is “there is nothing so like the behavior of dogs as not recognizing or acknowledging your parents”.[26] Augustine redefines the plague of dog-fly into dogs. The term dog is a derogatory term which denotes inferiority, unattractiveness, and stupidity.[27] This idea relates to the theme throughout the sermon: human's inability to resist desires and incapacity to make just decisions are reduced to the animal species. [...]
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